Chapter 13 #2
Ethan Austin’s thundering voice pierced the already tension-filled atmosphere.
“Aww, how cute, they’re both wearing the same school uniform,” he mocked, coming into the bathroom. “How does the little beggar pay for private school?”
All it took was for Austin to take one look at me, and James jumped in front of me to cover me.
“Hunter, what’s wrong? Scared your innocent little friend will give me another lap dance?”
I wanted to talk back to him, but the guy could be armed, he could hurt James, and that possibility scared me so much that I kept my mouth shut.
I shrank behind James’s back.
“This time she can bang me right here.”
James’s shoulders were too broad and blocked my view, but I saw Austin put his hand on his pants in the mirror.
But I didn’t expect James’s reaction. Without saying a word, he punched Austin right in the nose. When I saw Austin’s face covered in blood, I felt the instinct to scream.
“James, no!”
He turned around suddenly as soon as he heard my scream, and Austin took advantage of it to take him by surprise from behind.
He grabbed James by the collar of his button-down shirt and slammed him against the wall, before pulling a gun out of his jeans.
“Oh my god,” I stuttered, terrified when I saw Austin put the gun to his head.
“Go on, do it,” snarled James through clenched teeth.
I was about to faint. I could already see it in my head.
“Do it,” repeated James more angrily.
I stopped breathing when Austin pushed the gun into James’s cheekbone, leaving an indent.
“I’ll do it sooner or later, Hunter. I’ll kill you with your own gun, asshole. You’re wasting your time trying to find it, but you know what? I always have it on me. Dick. I’m giving you five minutes to get out of my house.”
“Five minutes?” asked a woman.
The girl who’d answered the door had come into the bathroom a little while ago, but I was so upset that I hadn’t even noticed.
“We’ll give them time to recover,” sneered Austin. Then he looked at James’s silhouette.
“From what?” the redhead asked him.
“This,” groaned the guy, before punching James in the face and chest as the shadow of the gun pointed at his head loomed above.
I was speechless. Ethan passed me and left with the girl, flashing a grin so horrifying that it gave me goose bumps.
I felt myself tear up when I saw James’s silhouette rolled up in a ball in a corner.
Come on, June, now’s not the time to cry. He was a pile of blood. I started hyperventilating.
“Jesus Christ, you’re bleeding so much. Where’d he hit you? How is that possible?”
I was starting to panic.
“June.”
“Yeah?”
“My hand’s bleeding, the first wound.”
I saw a first-aid kit above a sink. I ran to grab it, then opened it. The smell of hydrogen peroxide stung my nostrils.
“Stay still.”
I tried to get a clean shot, but James kept moving his head to avoid my touch. I couldn’t even look him in the eye. I felt guilty. William and Jackson must’ve heard the commotion in the bathroom because they came in.
“What happened?”
“Nothing,” James and I answered in unison.
I started disinfecting his lip. He groaned softly and intermittently, then I took his hand and tried to wipe the back of it, but Will crouched down and literally ripped the cotton ball from my hands.
“I’ll do it,” he said, making me back away.
Jackson looked to the side, and I understood that it was time for me to step aside.
“Did he say something to you? Did you talk to him?” asked James.
“They’re inflexible. They want to hold on to the gun.
They solved the issue like we asked them to, and the fact that we’re starting to piss them off and bursting into their house isn’t a good thing.
He knows he has two shitheads for sons, but we better not show up at the club again.
Especially you. He said you lied to him. ”
“What the fuck would I have said? I wasn’t the one who forced him to use that fucking gun.”
“James, if Taylor’s dad realizes it’s not at his house and reports it missing, it could be a problem for Austin. They won’t let him off scot-free in that case,” Will explained calmly.
“I’ll do it in a way that he won’t notice.”
“How, James?” Jackson said, worried. “Taylor hates you one day and not the next.”
“Well, he’ll make her not hate him anymore. You know how to do that, right, James?” William tried to sound convincing, but I started feeling a lump in my throat.
I saw James gulp bitterly, looking down. It felt like looking at a caged lion, and I didn’t like the look of duress at all.
“I don’t know. I’ll think about it.”
“Do that, James,” suggested William, extending his hand to help him up.
“How about we go home?” suggested Jackson, who was visibly agitated.
James held himself up on the sink, nodding.
“Now? Austin is waiting for me upstairs,” announced Will, walking to the door.
“Don’t you see what kind of state he’s in? Please, Will.” Jackson begged him quietly, pointing at James’s wrecked figure.
“No. I’m finishing this, and then we’re leaving,” William continued, shaking his head stubbornly.
“He threatened to kill him, Will,” My voice cracked, so much so William turned to me.
Only then did he seem convinced to listen to us.
“Then we’ll go home,” he spat, slamming the door.
“Will!” Jackson followed him, glancing furtively at me before leaving.
“Move it, let’s go. I’m not staying in here for even a minute longer.”
James reached in his pocket and pulled out a vape pen.
“James, um, we should—”
“I didn’t want you to see all this.”
His head was slightly bowed as he looked down at the floor.
“It’s part of you. Isn’t it?” But he didn’t answer. “What is it, James?”
When he slowly lifted his head up, he looked at me weirdly.
“Tell me, what is it,” I whispered, inching closer to him.
“Look, if you care about Will, you should be there for him. In the good times and the hard times. And I think soon—”
“Yeah.” I answered without hesitation.
But then a feeling of guilt pummeled me in the pit of my stomach. I couldn’t deny it.
“I feel guilty about the other night,” I admitted, my gaze lowered.
“For what?”
“There aren’t many things I should feel guilty about, James.” I felt my cheeks sting. The memory was too vivid, and his gaze was too intense.
“You mean . . . ?” he provoked. I was frozen in front of him.
“We gotta go.”
I pulled back, but James grabbed me by the wrist.
“What’s your deal? Are you scared?”
“These kinds of things don’t happen to me every day,” I admitted, as I let my attention wander to my wrist, dirty with blood, suspended between his fingers.
“You shouldn’t be scared.”
We couldn’t get too close to each other; James knew that.
And I knew it, too, but my judgment stopped working when I smelled his scent.
I behaved and acted irrationally. And the most ridiculous thing was that he was fine.
Why didn’t he pull back? My behavior didn’t make sense.
Breathing while I was so close to his face was heavenly. The tips of our noses grazed each other. I saw him close his eyes.
He didn’t move as our foreheads fit together. James didn’t open his eyes, but he grabbed my sides, making the contact last longer than it should have. He’d never kiss me, never, never, never, never—
Then he opened his eyes and gazed into mine.
“James.”
“June.”
“Attention.”
“Jesus Christ!” I yelled, scared when the door screeched. Jackson’s usual arrogant air was replaced by him staring at us, concerned.
“What’s going on?” I asked, while James put his hands quickly to his knees.
“Will is, uh, a little twitchy. He’s about to get some target practice on the china cabinets in the living room using a fucking pool ball.
” This would’ve been an unrealistic and comical remark if James hadn’t jumped up from the sink at the speed of light.
He looked like he was suddenly gripped by anxiety.
“Fuck!” he exclaimed, rushing out of the bathroom while he rubbed his side.
“White?” Jackson called me sharply, bringing me back down to earth.
“Yeah.”
“I’ll pretend I didn’t see anything.”
“There’s nothing to—”
“You can fuck with other people, but not me. Cut it out before someone really gets hurt.”
>> <<
When James’s car pulled up in front of my house, Will turned to me. “Your mom’s not back from her trip yet, is she?” he asked.
“She comes back the day after tomorrow.”
“Wouldn’t it be better if you spend the night with me?”
Will’s suggestion wasn’t that crazy because I probably wouldn’t be able to sleep a wink alone at home.
“I don’t know.”
I definitely didn’t want any more emotions today.
“You better take me home now. I have to study, and besides, I don’t know, maybe I’ll bike over tonight.”
“Doesn’t she have friends? Why does she always have to be with us, Will?” spat James from the driver’s seat.
“I got into a fight with Amelia and all of them,” I admitted unwillingly.
Before I could get out, William grabbed my arm to give me a kiss on the lips. I saw him close his eyes, but my eyes darted to the rearview mirror quickly. I had a feeling of dizziness in the pit of my stomach when I realized that James was already staring at me.
Jackson was right, I had to cut it out ASAP.